Four in five new neighbourhood health centres to be built with private finance, government reveals

Credit: Marbury

By Claudia Tanner

The government has confirmed that 80% of newly built neighbourhood health centres will be funded through controversial public-private partnerships, despite warnings from health experts and Labour's own backbenchers that the approach risks repeating the costly mistakes of the Private Finance Initiative.

Care minister Karin Smyth revealed in a written parliamentary answer that of the 120 NHCs scheduled to open by 2030, 70 will be newly constructed whilst 50 will be created by refurbishing existing NHS buildings. Of those new builds, 56 facilities will rely on private finance, with only 14 funded entirely through public capital.

The disclosure came in response to a written question from Labour MP Ian Lavery, who asked the health secretary what assessment he had made of "the potential merits of funding neighbourhood health centres through alternative, non-private finance means".

Ms Smyth stated: "At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 NHCs through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments, to expand and improve sites over the next three years, and new-build sites opening in the medium term.